Developing a Wetland Mitigation Project on Your Land

Because nearly three quarters of our nation's wetlands are on private land, working with landowners is an integral part of Ducks Unlimited's mission.

If you own land and care about wetlands and wildlife, you can help DU protect and restore wetlands and other types of habitat on your land! By letting DU know that you, or someone you know, own land and are interested in conservation, you are helping DU achieve its mission of protecting, restoring and managing wetlands for waterfowl, other wildlife and people.

DU works to restore, manage and protect property containing important waterfowl and wildlife habitat.

Habitat Development and Wetland Mitigation

Ducks Unlimited projects on private lands provide tremendous benefits to waterfowl, other wildlife and you! DU has teams of biologists and engineers that provide wetland restoration, management and protection services directly to landowners. When a private land project is matched up with wetland mitigation funds, the result is habitat for wildlife and financial gain to the landowner. Let us know if you are interested in a wetland project on your land!

Conservation Easements

Conservation easements protect private lands. Easements are tailored to meet the needs and interests of the individual landowner, allowing for the protection of key natural habitats while continuing using the land for economic gain or recreation. Such protection assures that large areas of riparian wetland habitats and important uplands will be preserved in perpetuity, for the benefit of waterfowl and other wildlife, and for future generations.

Real Estate Donation

If you own land that contains prime wetland habitat, you can donate it to DU; it benefits our mission and could provide you with tax benefits. DU may choose to perform habitat enhancement on the property while it is owned by DU. Ultimately though, DU's goal is to permanently protect the property with a conservation easement and then sell that habitat to a conservation buyer. We reinvest the proceeds to protect further habitat!

Other real estate can also be donated to Ducks Unlimited with the understanding that DU will sell it. Some may be personal residences or commercial properties with no conservation value whatsoever. DU's objective is to sell the parcel for top dollar and use the proceeds to fund habitat saving transactions. DU typically will accept only such donations when we believe the property can be converted readily into cash to fund our urgent wetlands conservation mission.

Conservation Buyers

These conservation-minded individuals are an integral and necessary component of DU's ability to accomplish its mission. These buyers purchase protected properties from DU and DU, in turn, reinvests those proceeds to protect more wetland and wildlife habitat that is at risk of being lost forever to development. If you are interested in becoming a conservation buyer, please visit contact us.

There are many ways in which members, volunteers and private citizens are crucial to DU's success in conserving wetlands. One way that has become increasingly important is offering conservation opportunities on your land. Our ability to leverage grants, grassroot funds and, yes, your donations, is becoming increasingly dependent upon having a solid database of potential properties. That means compiling a list of landowners in every state that are interested in protecting and restoring wetland habitat on their land.

If you are interested, please complete this form, and; contact: Jon Rich, National Director of Development, 901-758-3763,jrich@ducks.org.

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Choose Your Content

Welcome to your personalized My DU homepage! In addition to the exclusive web benefits for members, you can now personalize your own DU web page with the content that you care about the most. Select your favorite hunting, conservation and local information and you’ll see an instant summary each time your return to the page.

New features will be introduced to My DU in the coming weeks and months – so check back often.